Response from Delta Corporate Customer Care:
Thank you for your email regarding our check-in policy. On behalf of
Delta Airlines, I apologize for any confusion or disappointment in our
guidelines surrounding when you should arrive at the gate.
I was sorry to learn our check-in requirements are unclear and I would
be happy to offer an explanation.
Passengers are required to be present at the gate 15 minutes prior to
their original scheduled departure time. This requirement does not
change in the event of a delay. There are many reasons for this. To
begin, if a flight is delayed, whether it be for mechanical or
weather-related issues, the departure times can certainly change very
rapidly. If the situation clears and we are able to depart, we will.
Accordingly, you need to be at the gate according to scheduled departure
and ready to board. You can always check-in with the gate agent for
further direction if you need to go get something to eat.
Further, regarding delays on connections: If your originating flight is
delayed, we may proactively protect you on an alternate connection.
Once your flight is in the air, it is known what time you will arrive.
Our rebooking system starts to protect the passengers at this time.
Now, once you land at your connection city, you may be no longer
confirmed on your original scheduled flight because you were proactively
taken off. In situations where you find your original connection is
also delayed, the best advice would be to speak to the gate agent and
see if there is still room to accommodate you. It is our intention to
protect the passengers during irregular operations and do our best to
get them to their destination as quickly as possible. If we failed to
protect passengers until they landed, this can cause unexpected and
unwanted overnight stays in their connection city. I hope for your
understanding that we do the best we can to minimize the impact on the
passengers.
I hope the information I have provided above helps clarify your
concerns. We truly to value your business and look forward to serving
your future travel needs.
Of course, none of this "clarifies my concerns" at all, but thought I'd post it here nonetheless.
The solution is simple: If Delta's automatic rebooking system boots a passenger off of a flight
despite the passenger being at the gate well in advance of boarding, then the gate agent should request an additional volunteer to be bumped from the flight. Yes, Delta would have to pay compensation to the volunteer, but since it's the result of Delta's own screw-up, this seems fair.